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Reaction to the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., 1968

Citizens gather at a public rally in Boston, Massachusetts, following the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., in this archival news footage from April 1968. One speaker featured in the footage states that King had been “prepared to give his life for justice in America” in Boston and in the various cities King had visited throughout the South. Another speaker talks about America’s unwillingness—not its inability—to end racism, questions the meaning of “law and order,” and calls violence the “inevitable outcome of oppression.”

This video is primary source footage and has not been extensively edited.

In the spring of 1968, America was a deeply divided society. Despite the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling that ended de jure segregation (segregation imposed by law) in schools, racial discrimination persisted. There was a growing uneasiness among urban blacks in particular, who felt they were being left behind as the rest of America was prospering. Antiwar sentiments ran high following the escalation of the Vietnam War in 1965. People watched as thousands of 18- and 19-year-olds were drafted into the military and sent to combat.

The sentiments these events inspired contrasted with the great optimism shared by many Americans at the outset of the 1960s. Pitching his “New Frontier” agenda, a package of laws and reforms that sought to eliminate injustice and inequality, President John F. Kennedy had led people to see government as having the answer to society’s biggest problems, including racial inequality and poverty. However, Kennedy’s own assassination, the failure of both laws and government to solve problems facing blacks, and the fact that King, a champion of nonviolent change, had himself died violently, led many black leaders to take a more radical approach.

Spontaneous rioting in poor black neighborhoods, most notably in Los Angeles in 1965 and Detroit in 1967, reflected a type of response that would be repeated over and over again across the country in the latter half of the decade. A report by a presidential commission studying the Detroit riots concluded that the nation was “moving toward two societies; one black, one white, separate and unequal.” King’s killing in April 1968 further widened this rift. In the immediate aftermath, more than 100 cities across the country experienced rioting. Nearly 50 people died, and property damage was in the millions.

As the news footage shows, disillusionment was shared not just among blacks, but among whites as well. Those who rallied in Boston pointed out that King’s violent death was an inevitable result of the racist society they were living in and its unwillingness to change. According to one of the protesters seen in the footage, the very meaning of law and order in America had been corrupted.

In the months following King’s assassination, and despite President Johnson having signed a new Civil Rights Act, the tumult in America’s cities did not end. Antiwar protestors took over Columbia University in New York City later in April. In June, President Kennedy’s brother, Robert, a candidate for president himself, was assassinated. In August, police used tear gas and force to break up demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. While shreds of the hopeful 1960s remained, 1968 was perhaps the worst year of a difficult era.

Here are suggested ways to engage students with this video and with activities related to this topic.

Beginning a lesson: To help students understand more about the era in which the news footage was taken, prepare a time line for the year 1968 (you may expand it to 1967–1969, if you’d like). Plot out events prior to and following Dr. King’s assassination. Ask students to point out any obvious thematic connections to Dr. King and his assassination, such as civil rights or episodes of violence.

Viewing the video: Use the following suggestions to guide students' viewing of the video.

Before: Ask students: What comes into your mind when you think about the civil rights movement? When was it? What did it accomplish?

During: Have students jot down some of the language used by both speakers in this clip. Which words are repeated? (The words that are repeated are: “murder,” “die,” “violence,” “repression,” “racism,” “law and order,” and “propaganda.”)

After: Ask students: What do these words tell us about the tone of life in America in the aftermath of Dr. King’s murder?

Doing a small group activity: Divide the class into two groups. Each group will discuss some of what was said by one of the two speakers in the video using the following questions:

Group 1: Which phrase(s) of the first speaker do you remember? When he talked about the “daily violence of white America,” what did you picture? What did he mean? Has this changed today? Do speakers say these things publicly now?

Group 2: The second speaker made his viewpoint clear. He said that, “American order is another name for death.” He continued, “American law is another name for murder.” How do you account for his word choices? How would you characterize them? Did the crowd agree or disagree? Do you? Why or why not? Has this changed today? Do speakers say these things publicly now?

Doing research projects—individual: Have students look at the headlines of a cross-section of U.S. newspapers from April 5 and 6, 1968. The murder of Dr. King led to violence in many U.S. cities. What did the papers report? What was the mood like in the country in the spring of 1968?

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